Forever Yours
by liveforthefight
Summary: Sara and Cath get into some trouble at a crime scene... What will happen afterwards when their stalkers become more determined? And what will the team do when the devils turn out to be inside the walls? Sara/Catherine.NOW COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is going to be a rather longer Cath/Sara fic with some suspense/angst as well as romance.

Warning: Will contain F/F Don't like, don't read.

Rating: Hovering around T, may go up later.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to CSI except for DVD's of the seasons, all of the characters and ideas from the shows belong to CBS. (Does anyone even read these??)

Chaper 1

I don't know why I even bother to set an alarm clock. It's not like I ever sleep more than an hour or two each night before waking up in a cold sweat without the possibility of sleeping again that night. The only good the device does for me is to signal that it's time to put down whatever forensic book I'm reading at the time, suck down another cup of coffee and get ready for work. I'm always glad to hear it go off, because it means it's time for another hectic day to begin, and that I can escape my demons for a while.

Today when it went off I was particularly glad. I had had a worse night than usual, only getting around an hour of sleep before waking, shaking uncontrollably. This was not my normal nightmare about my father, but of an unknown attacker. As usual however, I shook it off and prepared for another day at the lab.

When I arrived, the first one on grave shift as usual, I sat down and settled in to watch TV and wait for assignments. Shortly after Grissom walks in. He's almost as much of a workaholic as I am, but for different reasons. We had a thing for a while, but I was actually glad when it ended. The tension was too much for either of us to bear, and the effort it took to make even the simplest of conversations got tiring far too quickly for it to be worth it. It had been coming for a while, and when he finally said something about us breaking it off I almost jumped in celebration, not because I didn't like him, but because he had come way too close way too many times to finding things out about me that only a few old social workers knew.

Next walked in Catherine, who I have to admit, took my breath from the first. I think I always loved her, even when I was with Grissom, but it was always too risky, so I never tried anything, knowing her rejection would break me into irreparable pieces. I kept my distance, and she kept hers, the only problem being the constant question in my mind: what would happen if I ever did try? I kept myself from answering by telling myself that if she ever asked me about my past, I wouldn't be able to dodge her questions. Around Grissom I could avoid a subject completely without a chance of him perusing it, as he was never that social to begin with. Cath on the other hand, would keep at me until I told her. It isn't that I don't want her to know, it's that I don't want to seem weak around her. The worst thing in the world- worse even than not being with her- would be knowing she was with me out of pity.

It was now time for shift to start. Of course, ten minutes late, in walk Nick, Warrick, and Greg. I love them as my brothers but they really need to learn that being late is not worth the extra ten minutes of sleep. Of course I-the insomniac- probably shouldn't talk about good and bad sleeping habits. Grissom starts handing out assignments, he goes with Nick on a hit-and-run, Greg and Warrick have a 419 in Henderson, and Cath and I are lucky enough to have a rape/murder somewhere in the mountains. I knew then we were going to have a triple shift, which didn't bother me in the least, but Cath had Lindsey to take care of, so we'd have to work as fast as possible without compromising the evidence.

"Well this is just wonderful" Cath said with her usual sarcasm. I'm honestly not sure if she's talking about the nature or location of the case, but I can tell she's not thrilled with being stuck with a two hour drive to the crime scene.

"Well, at least the weather's good" I said, trying to keep things positive.

We arrived at the scene to find it was going to be a pretty good hike to the top of the mountain. At this point I was starting to wonder if we would end up pulling a quadruple shift. It would take at least an hour to climb up to the body, and that's assuming we wouldn't have to stop along the way to rest. I was also starting to feel really bad for Catherine, who-if things went the way they seemed like they were going to go-wasn't going to see her daughter anytime soon.

After figuring out what the best way up was, we began the hike. What ended up being two hours later we arrived at the crime scene, panting and gasping for breath. After looking at the body, and observing the coroner bringing the body back to the lab, I started to notice that the officer was looking a bit, well, like he had other places to be. Cath and I told him to go home, he was already well into his second shift, as were we, but he had no further reason to be there. After clearing the scene one last time he left, thanking us profusely. Cath was also looking a little on edge about the time, since we would still have to walk back down the mountain, drive back to the lab, and process the evidence before either of us could go home. I on the other hand was in heaven: I got to spend time alone with the one woman I truly loved.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. It wasn't beta'd so there might be mistakes. Please review, reviews make me want to update sooner… hint hint. If all goes as planned Sara and Cath will be getting into some trouble in the next few chapters…

Until Next Time,

CSILOTRGirl


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, here' s chapter two. I know it's been a few days between chapters, but this is about as fast as I can update right now, because my schedule is insanely overbooked. Thanks for being patient!

A/N2: This isn't beta'd, so any mistakes are mine. Anyone willing to beta mainly C/S stories please feel free to contact me!

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Chapter 2

CATHERINE:

Sara and I had been working that crime scene for hours. All I wanted to do was go home and see my daughter, but we still had to go all the way back down the mountain to the crime lab. This had not been a good day. Yes I had gotten paired with Sara, which can brighten anything up, but she froze me out as usual, and this shift was way too long to deal with a partner who couldn't say anything not directly related to the case. I think I might have pushed her too far in our last argument, but I was just trying to get her to open up about why certain cases bother her so much. Needless to say I came out of it with nothing but a bruised ego and certainty that Sara would never speak to me again.

Regardless of my personal life, and Sara's all-to-obvious dislike of me, we finally finished processing the scene and began our decent. We were only about five minutes on our way when suddenly Sara slipped over a wet rock and fell of the side. All I could watch was her falling. Luckily it was a winding trail so I was able to get to her quickly, but all I could think of when I saw her unconscious on the rock was that I may never get a chance to apologize, and as soon as I got some help for her I would make sure to tell her how I really felt, so there would be no more regret, even if she didn't return my feelings.

SARA:

I was walking along, eager to get back to the lab, because the weather was starting to look bad and I knew that Cath would want to get home as soon as she could. I started walking faster in order to avoid the imminent rain. I didn't succeed. Only a minute or two into our hike down the mountain it began to rain, and in my hurry to get back to the car to preserve the evidence I slipped, and that's all I knew until I woke up to the woman I love kneeling over me, calling my name.

CATHERINE:

"Sara? Sara! You have to wake up honey!" I half yelled, thinking she might be in shock until her eyelids fluttered open. She looked dazed and confused, but –needless to say- alive.

"Cath?" She asked obviously in pain.

"Yes honey, I'm here. Do you remember what happened?" I asked, trying to see if she had a concussion, preferably without asking her, because knowing Sara she'd deny it.

"I… I fell didn't I? How far was it?"

"Pretty far honey, I'd say help is coming but I can't get a cell phone signal in this altitude. We have to try to get down to the cars by ourselves. Can you walk or should I carry you?" I said this, already knowing her answer. After all, hurt or not she was still Sara Sidle, which meant she was stubborn as a mule.

"I'll walk." _Of course._

"Alright, but lean on me, your leg is getting bigger by the minute." I said, again knowing that I had no chance of getting my way in this.

"Cath. I think I can handle walking down a mountain without leaning on you. "

"If you say so. I swear to god Sidle you are the most stubborn person in the world." I remarked, unable to keep myself from smirking at least. It turned out to be good, because Sara laughed as well. (Well, grimaced would probably be the proper word. )

SARA:

After getting over my shock at seeing Catherine Willows bent over me and calling me "honey" the first thing I noticed was extreme pain in my leg. I ignored it however, and shook off Catherine's offers to carry me or support my weight. I had walked the earth in worse pain than this, and I certainly was not going to appear weak to the one person I could ever truly love, who also happened to be the strongest person I know. Knowing the importance of avoiding flash floods I stood as quickly as my leg and the steady throb and spinning of my head would allow. Putting pressure on my leg I wanted to scream, but I managed not to even wince, and managed to convince Cath that it wasn't really swollen, because the rain had helped to bring it down to the point that it wasn't noticeable in my black work pants. Part of my brain was asking me why I was masking my pain when I didn't have to bear it but the other part knew that at the first sign of weakness, of trust, she could hurt me. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. It had happened with my father the first time he broke my arm in a beating. He immediately acted very concerned, and me, only being five, believed him. Just when I thought he would splint it and make some of the pain go away, he yanked, hard, on the limb and dislocated it. After that I never showed pain, never trusted anyone, because I knew that no matter how concerned they might look, they could still hurt me.

CATHERINE:

If Sara was still in pain she was doing a hell of a job hiding it. Judging by the way she was walking, talking, and acting, I might have just imagined the entire fall. Knowing somehow that I hadn't, and that you don't walk away as Sara was pretending to- unscathed- I couldn't help but wonder how and why she learned to mask pain that well. Why should she have to hide her suffering from me? Does she still, after all these years of working together, not trust me. I always wondered why she shied away from contact, and refused to talk about herself, turning the subject immediately to work. I was now starting to wonder if there was more of a reason than just shyness to why she refused to let herself have a life outside of work, and I resolved to find out what, however unwilling she was to tell me.

A/N: Sorry that was shortish, that was just a natural break in the story. I'm writing this as I go so I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Until then, REVIEW!! Please! Thank you to all of my Chapter 1 reviewers! You made me want to write this!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm really sorry for the amount of time in between updates, but here's chapter three. Thanks to all of my reviewers!

SARA:

I know that my façade won't last much longer. Cath's getting suspicious of my sudden ability to walk and the fact that I'm not showing any pain. It's getting worse, but I don't want to tell her that, seeing as how she already knows something's up. Judging by the way my head is spinning I probably have a concussion, and my leg, mainly my ankle, is throbbing more and more by the minute, but I won't let that make me put my guard down. Cath is really the only person that could hurt me right know, the only person whose betrayal would have any effect on me at all, because I love her.

Sara and Cath continued their journey down the mountain in the torrential downpour that was growing worse by the moment, both women getting increasingly concerned as the visibility level dropped to zero. Cath was particularly frightened, because she knew that another fall could be fatal to Sara at this point. After a while the rain grew to be so bad that they just took shelter under a ledge in the rock waiting for it to pass, and hoping, beyond anything, that they wouldn't get struck by lightning.

CATHERINE- 2 HOURS LATER

"Well, the rain's slowed down a bit," I said, "we should really get going."

"Yeah, I guess," Sara replied, less than eager, but knowing that it was time.

We then realized that we were-surprisingly-close to the bottom. The torrent of rain had made it impossible for us to see how far we'd come since Sara's fall. Thank god we were at the car. I was going to get Sara to the hospital, with or without her objections.

The two women finally reached the car, the blonde insisting on driving-as usual- and left the crime scene. They had already pulled a full triple shift and were not even close to done yet. After a while, though, Sara realized that Cath was heading in the opposite direction of the lab.

"Cath," Sara asked, "where exactly are you going?"

"To the hospital Sara, I don't care what you say, you are not as alright as you seem right now and I want to get you checked out." Cath stated this plainly, leaving no room for argument. Needless to say however, Sara did in fact find a way to retort.

"Cath, if you turn around and go back to the lab right now," the brunette said, "I swear I will get myself checked out as soon as we clock out. You and I both know that if we detour from the direct route of the lab the defense attourney will question the integrity of the evidence. Do you really want this sick pervert to walk because I took a little fall? Please, I think I've had worse."

"Fine Sara," said Cath, clearly, once again, not going to win this argument, "We will go to the lab if you promise to get yourself checked out after, ok?"

"Sure Cath," Sara stated, sounding genuinely sincere.

At that the blonde turned the car around, astounded that she had not even managed to get to the hospital before the argument was raised, and by then she was sure she would have won. _Well_, Cat thought,_ It is Sara Sidle you were intending to outwit. At least I know one thing: she probably doesn't have that bad a concussion if she could figure out we were going in the wrong direction, and outsmart me in a way that she knew she would win: bring the case into it. _

SARA:

It worked. I was actually able to convince Cat that I would go to the hospital of my own free will. She really doesn't know me that well if she thinks I would go to a hospital without being dragged in, kicking and screaming. I'll just put some ice on my ankle and head when I get back to my apartment, and if Cat asks about it tomorrow, I'll say they said I was fine. I don't need a doctor.

A/N: Again, Sorry about the shortness, but I'm better at a lot of short chapters than longer ones. Thanks to all my reviewers!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter… Thanks as usual to all of my reviewers! The song in this chapter is "Kissed a Girl" by Katie Perry. Just to clear up any confusion _Italics _is Sara singing, Underline  is Cath, and _Both_ is both of them singing together.

--

The two CSI's were on their way to the crime lab to begin analyzing evidence. About halfway there Sara turned on the radio and started singing.

_This is not the way I planned_

_Not my intention_

_I got so brave drink in hand_

_Lost my discretion_

_Its not what im used to _

_Just want to try you on_

_I'm curious for you_

_Caught my attention_

Cath was amazed, never having known that her coworker had such a great voice. Deeper inside however, she wondered if the fact that Sara was singing the song with such passion meant that she actually wasn't as straight as Cath had thought she was. It sure sounded to the blonde like the song was coming from the heart, so she decided to throw Sara a bone, and see if she could make some of her feelings clear to the brunette. She began to sing along with her coworker:

_I kissed a girl and I liked it_

_The taste of her cherry chapstick_

_I kissed a girl just to try it_

_Hope my boyfriend don't mind it_

_It felt so wrong_

_It felt so right_

_Don't mean I'm in love tonight_

_I kissed a girl and I liked it_

_I liked it _

Sara at this point was taken off guard, not sure if she should take her coworker's apparent passion as a message. She wanted so desperately to believe it meant she had a chance, but years of being hurt told her not to trust in a single moment of passion that could easily be a misconception. She decided to break off for the second verse, to try and sense the sincerity of the blonde's singing.

No I don't even know your name

It doesn't matter

You're my experimental game

Just human nature

Its not what good girls do

Not how they should behave

My head gets so confused

Hard to obey

Sara couldn't help but grin at Cath's smirk on "It's not what good girls do." Sara took that to mean that Cath didn't really care what good girls did. She had intended to let Cath finish the song by herself, just to 

hear the sweet sound of her voice for a while longer, but she got caught up in the moment and began to sing again, this time looking directly at Cath.

_I kissed a girl and I liked it_

_The taste of her cherry chapstick_

_I kissed a girl just to try it_

_Hope my boyfriend don't mind it_

_It felt so wrong_--

Suddenly the Tahoe spun out of control as it was slammed on the driver's side by an 18 wheeler, apparently on purpose. The car rolled over and landed in a ditch, both passengers momentarily unconscious. The driver of the truck used that as his window of opportunity, and left a note on the driver's side window, the one facing upward at the time.

SARA:

The first thing I remembered when I awoke was the smell of blood. I would never forget it, after what happened to my father, and I recognized it long before I was conscious enough to open my eyes. The second thing I noticed was that Catherine was fairly well on top of me, and that the car was sideways. Then I remembered the incident, and the few amazing moments with Catherine that I had managed to steal before it. Then, I realized grimly that there would be no way to escape a hospital visit that time. I had no more time for thoughts however, because Cath was beginning to awaken. She stirred, then her beautiful blue eyes opened and stared at me, looking for an answer to the obvious question at hand: why were we in this somewhat compromising position. I watched for another moment as awareness slowly crept back to her, and the panic that ensued when she realized we might be trapped in the vehicle.

"Cath honey, you have to try to open your door. It's our only chance at getting out of here." I said, as gently as I could, but I was getting claustrophobic in the sideways vehicle, despite how much I loved waking up with Catherine on top of me.

"Alright" she said, extremely groggily. And no wonder, I thought, we had been out for almost half an hour. That was generally a bad sign.

She tried the door, and miraculously it opened.

"Can you climb out, or do you need help?" I asked, thinking of how difficult the nearly vertical exit would be for her, considering our position.

"I think if you give me a push I can make it," she said, "I just don't want to step on you."

"Cath," I replied, "I think, after what just happened," I could handle being stepped on." I replied, but none the less began to push her out the door that was currently serving as our roof. The second she did step on me, however, I had to bite back a gasp. I hadn't even checked myself for injuries, being more concerned for Catherine, but I soon realized that the crash had severely bruised and probably sprained my right wrist, as well as pulling, jerking, and twisting my already bad leg, and giving me several deep cuts on my stomach and head. Cath had come out slightly better, but she had a nasty head wound that probably gave her a pretty bad concussion. For the moment, however, she seemed alright, so I focused on climbing out of the vehicle. It was slow, and not exactly comfortable, especially since I refused to have Cat pull me out, not wanting to injure her further. I didn't give a shit about myself. Once I had fully exited the car, I noticed a scrap of paper on the ground, that Cath had probably knocked down as she was opening the door. I picked it up and read out loud:

**To Sara Sidle and Catherine Willows,**

**I would have thought that the distance to my crime scene and my lack of evidence would have been enough to make it so you wouldn't even discover the body. But since you did I figured I'd do you the curtosy of giving you a little warning: get off the case or you both end up dead. This little "accident" was nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you continue on the case. I know where both of you live, Catherine, I know about your daughter: where she goes to school, how little time you spend with her, and how she sees more of your mother than she does of her own. Sara: I know about how much of a workaholic you are. I know that you only sleep a few hours a night, and I know you wake up screaming after having another nightmare about your father's abusiveness towards you, your mother, and your older brother Paul. I know everything about both of you. These are only pieces of my knowledge about you, and I never lie, so believe me when I say this: Get off the case, or one of you will have to watch the other die. I have already decided which, and trust me, it won't be fast, or painless, for either of you. GET OFF THE CASE. **

**The Ghost**

I almost passed out after reading this, simply from the feeling of being so violated. This "Ghost" person knew everything about me, and everything about Cath. These didn't seem to be empty threats either. Someone who would go to such lengths to stalk both of us, knowing, for some sick reason that if we ever did find the body we would be assigned to the case, or maybe even waiting until tonight to dump the body, knowing how tough the case load was, which would make the whole line about not discovering the crime scene just present to through us off track, but either way, he was tough, he played hardball, and he had scared the shit out of both Cat and I, and we weren't exactly easy to intimidate.

CATH:

Even though I was still shaking like a leaf from the details and threats of the letter, I then realized that I should really call for help. I took out my cell phone, immediately glad that the crime lab paid for service that gave us a signal almost anywhere. First I called 911, requesting an ambulance, then I called Grissom, to have him tow the car, for any fingerprints on the window, and also to dispatch CSI to collect and analyze the note and other evidence from the car. I would've done that part by myself, but both of our field kits had gotten crushed in the Tahoe, so we sat and waited until the ambulance arrived.

--

A/N: Well, here's the chapter! A little longer this time, because I couldn't find a logical break. Any mistakes are mine, and PLEASE review! :D


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry about the long break between posts, I've just had one thing after another going on since my last update. Here it is now though…

--

Sara:

I could hear the sirens long before I could see the ambulance off in the distance. Somehow sensing my nervousness at being taken to the hospital, Cath squeezed my hand, as if to offer a moment of reassurance, quickly dropping it however, as the emergency vehicle came into view. Honestly I wasn't sure what to make of the sudden unwillingness to be seen in contact with me. Did it mean the contact was more intimate than it came off?

The ambulance stopped in front of us, and the next hour or so is a complete blur for me. I answered question after question about the date, time, year, and my profession until they were sure I didn't have a concussion, then they transported Cath and I to the hospital, after asking her the same questions. Judging by the answers she did in fact have a slight concussion, but that was to be expected as she was on the side that had gotten hit by the truck.

We got to the hospital and were split up so doctors could evaluate our injuries. That was the moment that the panic attack set in for me. It turns out that Cath's presence had a very calming effect on my fear of hospitals, and once I could no longer see her, all the flashbacks of my previous hospital stays set in, and apparently went on for almost an hour before I was fully able to communicate again.

When I came out of it, Cath and I were in the same room, (the doctor seemed to have sensed that we needed to be together) and a doctor was standing over me. I instantly realized what had happened, and my first question was "did I talk." Judging by the look on Cath's face, I knew the answer without anyone having to say anything. So the one person I could love knew my deepest, darkest secret. And surprisingly, I felt better than I thought I would if she had ever found out.

After making sure I was ok, and fully conscious, the doctor explained that I was doing surprisingly well. I had a broken ankle, sprained wrist, and a few deep cuts that had required stitches, but that was it. Once he left, Cath explained that she had a mild concussion and a dislocated shoulder. It seems we made out better than could have been imagined. We would be released tomorrow, which was great news for both of us, but Cath would have to stay with someone for a while, and it was recommended that I stay with someone too. So I offered to have Cath stay with me, since between the two of us we would be fine.

Cath:

After looking me over, they brought me into Sara's room, figuring that we would want to stay together, and I got the biggest shock of my life- Sara was in some sort of flashback, or so I figured, and was talking about her family. I never knew the reason she didn't talk about her past, but then I understood why. It was terrible. I listened to her screams for almost an hour, as she unknowingly told her story to myself and the doctor in the room. I repeatedly tried to block her out, knowing that if she had wanted me to know she would have told me, but it was impossible. I couldn't just block out the woman I loved when she was reliving the worst moments of her life. I tried comforting her in the hopes that she would snap out of it, but it didn't work, so I just kept talking to her, hoping that some of it would get through.

She eventually did come out of it, and by the shock on her face, she knew that I knew. I felt really bad for her, knowing how hard she had tried to keep it secret, but now I could help her at least, that is if she let me. I knew that bringing it up now would be a bad idea, so I told her what the doctor had said was 

wrong with me, and how he wanted me to stay with someone. She then surprised me even more by offering for me to stay with her, and that's when I realized that maybe, we could at least be friends.

A/N: Sorry, I know it's short, but the next chapter should get INTERESTING… evil grin. What will our two favorite women do when they're home alone? Hmmmm. :D Please review!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: A quick update! (Sorta…) Well, here you go.

--

Cat:

"I. Want. Out. Of. Here," growled my very disgruntled roommate at Desert Palms.

"Sara, we've only been here for an hour," I tried, hoping she'd see logic and calm down. Naturally, she didn't.

"It feels like a LOT longer than that. I think the clock is maybe, 24 hours slow," she was obviously more than bored. It sounded to me like she was trying to cover a near-panic with anger and restlessness.

"I know, but we're out tomorrow. Try to get some sleep, it'll make the time pass faster."

"Cat. Do you know nothing at all about me? I don't sleep. I work extra shifts, go home when Grissom makes me, and read forensic journals until I could possibly go back to work making it SEEM like I've gotten enough sleep for a normal person. I'm lucky if I can sleep two hours a night."

"Is it because of…. What you were reliving?" I knew this was a delicate subject, but maybe if I got some answers I could help her. It certainly sounded like she lived through hell as a child, and the fact that she's been covering it up since she managed to get away couldn't be helping her recover from that.

"Cat, I never meant for anyone to know that about me. Trust me when I say that I have my reason, and that they're legit ones. I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't bring it up again, especially with anyone else," that one stung. I had to admit. If she couldn't talk to me who could she talk to? Then I realized the best thing to do would be to let it go for now and let her bring it up again when she was ready. I got this feeling inside that eventually she would be ready to talk to me, and when she was she would breach the subject.

"Ok, I respect that. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. "

"Thank you Cat. Really. It means a lot more to me than you know. Someday we'll talk about it okay," she asked me, asking for my acceptance that she would just need more time.

"Whenever you're ready, I'm here for you Sara," and I meant it.

--24 Hours Later. --

Sara:

I managed to make it through my night in the hospital without another flashback, and eventually we were discharged, Cat with a sling and strict instructions not to operate heavy machinery for a week, me with a wrist and ankle brace, and crutches which I fully intended to discard the moment I got back to my place. Cat was going to stay with me at my house, and Cat's mother was going to stay with Lindsey in her house, so Cat and I were going to be completely alone. After running this idea through my head a few times to get used to the idea I realized with annoyance that Greg wasn't here to get us yet. I called him and got a response of "in traffic. Be there soon," before the line went dead.

"Finally," Cat almost cheered when the Yukon arrived and let us get the hell out of the hospital.

"Hey ladies," Greg smiled and winked at us as we made our way into the car, pretending to flirt, but we were nothing but good friends, and he knew it. "

"Don't go there Greg," I joked.

"So, I can't believe you two are going to be staying together. Without supervision."

"Don't go there either," I said, more seriously now.

"Why, you worried I'm not gonna be able to resist the chance to see some hot girl-on-girl action?"

"GREG!" Cat and I were yelling together now. I couldn't see her, since she was sitting in back, but I knew a blush was creeping up on to my cheeks at least. I hope I didn't look TOO guiltily happy at the idea of doing some girl-on-girl with Cat.

"Ok fine, sorry. I shouldn't have gone that way with it, with the whole stalker thing going on. We're working on that 24/7 you know. We will solve it." That was the reason I was friends with Greg, because underneath his jokes he really was just a great person.

--Sara's apartment--

Cat:

"Well, the um, spare bedroom is just through here, Nick had your mom bring over your stuff. There's a bathroom just through that door, the kitchen's over here, and, of course, the living room."

Sara was giving me the grand tour of her place, which was really nice. I'd never been there before, except in my dirtier fantasies, and it was a lot more… normal, than I had ever expected. I had thought she would've had a studio, but once again she surprises me. That, honestly, was the only PG thought as she showed me her bedroom. I couldn't even focus on the tour after that, because try as I might to get it out of my head, thoughts of what I'd like to do with her IN her bedroom kept butting in.

"Hey… Cat? You still there?" Sara's voice snapped me out of my rather elaborate fantasy.

"Oh, um, yeah. I was just thinking about how nice your place was," well, it wasn't the truth but sometimes honesty wasn't the best policy.

--

Sara:

"Well, I guess I'll leave you to get settled," I said, "and let me know if you need anything. I'm just going to take a shower, get the smell of the hospital out of my hair."

"Ok… See you in a bit then."

I hobbled off to the shower, determined to walk around a bit, if only in the bathroom, without the crutches. I hated needing something, besides Cat that is, who I then realized was not going to let me loose them that quickly.

I undressed, careful not to put any weight on the limb in case I made some sort of sound that would make Cat worry. I stepped into the shower, finally taking a step. I didn't know I had uttered a scream till the sound was out of my mouth and echoing around the shower. Once the spots in front of my eyes disappeared I realized I had fallen down too. Ok apparently I did need something. And then, of course, Cat comes bursting in, to make sure I'm ok, takes in the scene, me, naked on the ground, gasps, and doesn't even ask what happened.

"You were being stubborn weren't you?"

"Ok yeah I was."

"Are you ok, well, considering?"

"Yeah… no worse than before."

"Well then I'm just going to ummmmmmmm... leave then." I noticed she was stuttering… Did that mean she liked the sight of me lying down naked?

"Ok…."

--

Cat:

I swear to god my breathing did not slow down for ten minutes, and I was wet for the rest of the night thinking of the sight of Sara Sidle, naked, with me standing above her. What would I not give to have that be true again, except in a different scenario.

--

A/N: Well, there it is, hope you liked it. Sorry if the housing arrangement is complicated… I wanted to set up Sara and Cat so they could be alone without interruption in later chapters… Please, please, please review. Only a few people reviewed last chapter, and I REALLY like reviews…. HINT HINT. :D


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Again, long time between updates… As usual I'm really sorry. I had absolutely no idea where to go with the story after this point until an insane hour last night. Review… PLEASE. :D Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter…

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Sara:

Well I'll admit that having the woman I love seeing me naked shouldn't be a scarring experience, the circumstances were such that I probably will not ever be able to think of this day again without turning a color comparable to a rose at peak time… Because of this Cat and I spent the night in relatively awkward silence. We went through the motions of making dinner and watching a movie until it was late enough that we could at least pretend to go to bed without making it seem like we were avoiding each other, even though we both knew we were.

I got settled into my room, ready to read away the night as I always did, when I got a call from Grissom.

"Hello?" I asked warily, knowing that he wasn't calling for idle chat.

"Sara? I was wondering if you and Cat could come back to work tomorrow, just for lab work? I know it' s a lot to ask but we are SO buried in paperwork and evidence-"

"Gil. You know you don't have to ask me twice. I'll be there tomorrow, and I'll mention it to Cat and see how she feels about it. "

"Thank you. I owe both of you so much!"

"Gil, you're helping us, you know how stir-crazy I've been in the hospital, and I figured it would only be worse when I was stuck at home dying to work." I smiled at the thought being in the lab at this time the next night, if only to do paperwork and process evidence.

"Ok, well, bye then."

"Bye." Things were still awkward between us since I rejected him a few months ago. He thought I would wait for him forever, but I'm not that kind of woman, and I had already moved on.

I broke the news to an unsurprisingly awake Cat, who was almost as thrilled as I was to be able to go back to work so soon. I wasn't thrilled about doing paperwork, but chances were I'd be doing paperwork with Cat, which would make it more than worth it.

Cat:

I woke up after only a few hours of sleep to the sound of a screaming Sara. I quickly made my way to the master bedroom- quite a feat in the dark I might add- to find her thrashing around in her bed. The sheets and blankets had taken all the beating that they could handle and were now scattered on the floor next to Sara's pillows. She was moaning and screaming as if in agony, and was moving as if struggling against an unseen force. I approached her cautiously, not wanting to receive the same punishment as the undeserving sheets.

"Sara?" I asked, trying to see if she was having a nightmare or a flashback.

"Mmmph. NOOOO! Daddy stop! Stop it! Please! I'll be good I promise! I'm sorry!"At this my eyes began to fill, and the tears streamed down my face at seeing my Sara in so much pain. The only other thing going through my head was that I wanted to kill her father for being such a bastard and putting her through that.

"Sara, honey its ok. You're having a nightmare," I tried, feeling her slowly slipping back into consciousness.

"Cat? Ugh." Ummm… What?

"Sara?"

"Sorry, its just I didn't mean to have you have to deal with my screwed up past."

"Sara, Its ok, really. I was just worried about you."

"No one's ever said that to me before."

"Its ok, I'm here now, and I won't leave unless you want me to."

"Would you… stay with me tonight? I mean, you don't have to, and nothing would happen. Never mind." She instantly backtracked, apparently embarrassed at needing someone.

"It's fine, I'll stay. Really, I want to."

"Cat?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

--

A/N: Ok really short I know but this was a logical break. So. Our two favorite women are in bed together. What happens when they wake up and realize what happened the night before? Hmm. Review to find out sooner…


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Well, an actually fast update for once! Thanks to everyone who reviewed… You gave me some great ideas for this chapter which made me want to update faster… By the way: _thoughts_ are in italics.

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Sara:

I woke up slowly, knowing I had several hours before Cat and I had to go to work, floating in that wonderful stage where you're not really asleep but you're not awake either exactly. I let myself slowly gain fully consciousness, and as I did the first thing I realized was that my leg was trapped. _How odd. _Then I slowly began to notice the hand on my stomach. _But who would have their hand there? Did I have another drunken night out? _ Then, I realized that my hand was cupping a breast_, _which was particularly odd, because I had never before shown signs of intimacy with a one night stand in the past.

At this point I was almost fully awake and the memories of the night's events came flooding back just in time to hear Cat's muffled groan, showing that she too was drifting back into the land of the living. Unfortunately, unless she moved her arm that was pinning my hand in this rather interesting area, I couldn't remove it, meaning that she would have to find out before I could move anything. Not that I particularly minded being in this position, I just wouldn't want Cat to think I was taking advantage of her. After all, what she had done for me the night before was amazing, and I didn't want her to feel compromised because of it. So, I decided to pretend to sleep. Cat eventually came too enough to realize our position, and in the most gentle way possible, removed herself from my arms. As she was walking out of the room, presumably to start getting ready for work, I heard her mutter almost incoherently "we've gotta do that again sometime," and with those five words, I knew I'd be smiling all night, despite the paperwork awaiting me at the lab.

Cat:

Well, I have to assume that Sara doesn't know about the fact that I woke up to find us both in a rather compromising position, but judging by the smile that's been radiating off her all day I have to assume she at least slept well, because no one smiles that well on paperwork duty and only having the full use of one leg, especially not Sara, who doesn't smile often as it is. _Well, if sleeping with Sara's helping her, I guess I'll just have to make that sacrifice._ I grinned, knowing that I enjoyed it more than she did, being able to wake up to it, rather that sleep through our one intimate moment and wake up to an empty bed.

Paperwork was hell, but Gil finally took pity on us. Apparently our case had been overrun with an apartment shooting that had killed 12, so he let us process the evidence from the truck. We were ecstatic that we might be able to catch our own assailant. How often does a person get to do that? It could only be considered an added bonus however, when you put it side by side with being with Sara all the time. After all, what could compare with that?

Sara:

It was a long shift, but it was worth it to try to catch the Ghost. I would've pulled a double if Gil had let me. Instead he kicked us out right at the end of Grave shift and told us to go home and go to bed. That was, originally, my intention, but when we got home any plans of normalcy were thrown out the window into a shark pond. There was a dead bat pinned to our front door, with another note:

**You obviously have no regard for your own safety or the safety of each other. I know that you were working your case today. I saw you together, processing evidence. Don't ask me how, but I saw everything. I'm looking at you right now, you just can't see me. I consider myself a fair man so I'll give you and your team one last chance. Put down the case now or one of you two lovely ladies is going to be abducted. You won't know when and you won't know where, and I promise you, I won't do it **

**immediately either. I'm going to wait, to give you some time to get completely paranoid. But, if you hold to my terms I'll make it worth your while. For a moment, forget everyone else, just think about each other. If you drop my case right now, I'll leave, and stop watching you. I'll go far, far away and never bother you again. One of my associates will take a peak every now and again, just to make sure you're holding to your end of the bargin, but I will never invade your personal lives again. **

**THE GHOST**

**Ps. Next time, the bat has YOUR blood on it's fangs. **

**--**

A/N: Well, short but dramatic. I'm fairly sure where I'm going with this story for now, but if anyone has any ideas feel free to let me know. If I use them I'll dedicate the chapter to you… But for now: pleeeeeeease review. Please??


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Yet another fast update! :D Thanks especially to Myx Nyx. You made me want to write the next chapter…

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Sara:

Well, needless to say my morning of peace and quiet went out the window the moment the note arrived. Cat and I rushed back to the lab, despite the fact that we were both scared shitless and put the note in Grissom's gloved hand. The bat was left for whatever DNA tech who was on at the time to process. I felt bad for them, but at the moment I had bigger fish to fry. Cat and I hovered over Grissom's shoulders as he sprayed the note with nanhydron then put it under a hot iron to speed up the process of searching for prints. Unfortunately, the ghost had been to careful. There were no prints, and as we later discovered, no DNA either. We were stuck at another dead end, and at this point we weren't just looking for a murderer, we were looking for a stalker with an agenda.

Even Cat looked afraid for our well-being, so I put on a brave face in front of her and the boys. She needed the comfort now more than I did, and I had learned to deal with fear alone. When you live in a house like mine, you learn to do everything alone. Hell, I was cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry by the time I was 10, and the lesson of hiding fear and pain came much sooner than the lesson in independent living. So, despite the fact that I too was terrified, I held Cat as we waited for results that we knew were going to be negative, reassuring her that everything would be alright, and that we'd get through it together, and that no matter what I'd take care of her, making sure nothing happened to her. Eventually I guess she started to believe it, to believe in me, because she calmed down, realizing that no one was going to kidnap us while we were in a police building. They may have found a way to know about our activities, but that's as simple as hacking the security cameras. They would have to get inside to get to us. Soon, I wasn't worried either. The fact that I had been able to hold and console Cat was enough for me, and I realized eventually that what I was saying was true. He couldn't hurt us. For that moment, we were safe, and above all, I knew in my heart that if this ghost person came anywhere near us I would let him take me before letting him hurt my Cat, so nothing bad would ever happen, at least not to her.

Cat:

I felt so bad sitting with my head in Sara's lap, having her console me, when I knew that she must be scared too, no matter how well she had decided to hide it from the world, and yet, I also knew that it was helping her in a way, because as she spoke, more and more strength came into her voice, and I knew she meant every word, because you don't mess with Sara Sidle when she's talking like that. I couldn't help but notice a particular fierceness in her eyes when she said "and don't worry, I'll never let anything bad happen to you. I won't let him hurt you." I also couldn't help but notice that she said that she'd never let them hurt ME instead of she'd never let them hurt US, so after shift I approached her carefully, trying to see what she meant by that.

"Sara," I asked, still being cautious, knowing she was in defensive mode, ready to kick this guys ass where and whenever. "Are you sure you're ok? I mean, it's kinda been a tough day, but you only seem better than you did before."

"Really Cat, I'm fine. With my childhood I learned that when something bad happens, you only get stronger to support the challenge. I'm ready for this guy."

"Sara, you know that you're probably not going to get to fight him right. I mean, as much as I'd like to see him get his ass kicked in, you probably aren't going to be the one who has that pleasure."

"Cat, you read the note, and Gris is still working on the case, meaning he's going to come for one of us at some…"

At that moment, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, then nothing. I floated into blackness, and my last thought was _how could we both have been facing away from the door?_

Sara:

Midsentence I heard Cat groan, then a loud thump. I turned a quarter of the way around to see myself face to face with who I assumed to be the ghost. He began to speak in a deep, raspy tone:

"So. You didn't think to tell your coworkers to get off the case? Well, it doesn't matter now anyway. It's far too late to change your mind." At this he put a gun, not to my head, but to Cat's. "If you move, make a sound, or try to hurt me, I blow her brains out." He snarled a sick laugh, knowing that he had me, knowing that if he had put the gun to my head, he would've made a critical error, because I would've died to save Cat's life. "Now, you're going to walk out of the building, acting normal, making it seem like you're just going out to your car to get something before they put you in protective custody. I will watch you till you get to the parking lot. There will be a black car looking a lot like yours in the first space out. Get in the car. My boss is waiting. I'm going to go out a different exit, one only I know about, with your little girlfriend here. Go, now. One false move and she dies. I'll be watching."

And with that I was forced to walk out of the locker room, tell Grissom that I wanted my book out of my car, shake off his offer of an escort, pretending to be offended that he thought I couldn't take care of myself. He asked me the title of my book, and I got an idea. My captor obviously would want me to at least respond, in order to make him less suspicious and less likely to follow me at a distance. So I told him, as I was walking away "Masked stalker in a black jeep. It's a crime book." I knew that once he realized we were missing, he would pick up the clue and use it to our advantage. Knowing that I had done all I could do, I walked out to meet my awaiting doom. I immediately saw the car that was masquerading as mine, but then again I am a CSI, I got in as instructed, and found myself face to face with the boss, and I was surprised to see that I actually knew who the real ghost was.

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A/N: lol another cliffie. I hope you're not too mad at me…  Next chapter should be up soon and you'll find out exactly who this masked stalker is… Please review, even if you're mad about the cliffie. If I get enough reviews I'll post again tomorrow…


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Ok well I didn't get quite as many reviews as I was hoping for, but thanks to everyone who did review. You're all so awesome that I decided to update anyway. :D

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Sara:

I opened the door to the jeep and found myself face to face with none other than the most hated man in the Vegas crime lab: Conrad Ecklie. _So he was the one behind all this,_ I thought, _I knew I hated him for a reason. _My thoughts of Ecklie were interrupted at that point by the sleazy voice belonging to him:

"Sidle, took you long enough. You better not have been tipping anyone off in there…"

"Ecklie," I rolled my eyes to help with my point, "do you really think I would do something that stupid with Catherine's life on the line? You of all people know that I wouldn't, which is why you arranged this sick little operation the way you did. So to answer your ignorant question, no, I did not tell anyone that you were here." That, at least, was the absolute truth, because I didn't know HE was here. I did however know that this car was here, but he never asked about the car did he? I knew this was the only way to win with Conrad. He was unwilling to do more than he had to, and that included thinking, so if I outsmarted him with technicalities, I would at least win a verbal battle, not that it would matter for anything but my pride at that moment, but still, take it when you can.

"Yeah, yeah. Enough chit-chat. My assistant will know if you squealed on me anyway. He was monitoring the security cameras the whole time. So look, this is how this is going to work. You and I are going to go for a drive. Try anything, and it won't be your head. See this radio? One word and she dies. So be good."

"As if I have a choice," I muttered darkly, putting as much hatred, sarcasm, and fearlessness into that phrase as I could muster, and let me tell you, years of pent-up anger against this man made it possible to produce a tone that would scare a wild bear straight out of the forest.

For a long time we rode in silence, my thoughts alternating between my passionate hatred for Ecklie, and my fear for Cat's life. If it had been my life in my own hands I would've tried to escape by now, or not moved at all in the beginning, preferring to die free than live captive, but I couldn't, and wouldn't be the reason for my love's death, so even though I was more than free to escape, my hands were tied by my love for Cat. I could only hope that if she had a choice she would kill me and get herself out. I would die for her in an instant.

Cat:

I woke up groggily, slowly coming back into the real world, and realizing that my head hurt, a lot. _Oh shit, Sara!_ Was the first thought to come into my head though, because more than anything I wanted to believe that she had escaped. Somehow in my heart though I knew she hadn't, because the person who had planned this obviously was using me to keep her compliant, otherwise they would've knocked her out. I shuddered at the thought of what must have happened to her already, then at that moment the driver seemed to realize I was awake. He turned around and I found myself looking into the face of… Hodges? _Woah… Slow down. Am I hallucinating or something?_ But I instantly knew I wasn't, because his voice stopped my thoughts in their tracks:

"She's alive, for now. As long as she cooperates, you should live through this. Her, well, I'm not so sure about."

"Why are you tangled up in this Hodges? You're better than this, and you know what happens to criminals. Hell, you help us put them away."

"No, Cat, you see, I've always helped them get away, giving you results that would incriminate someone else. You wouldn't believe how much criminals will pay to stay out of jail. So, I change out the DNA with whatever they give me before the tech sees it, change out the trace, and swap out the prints."

"How long have you been doing this?"

"About a year now. In the lab, I'm nothing but a tech who's never going to move up in the world. Here, I get a chance to do some real, fieldwork, as you might say, and someday, I take over as boss. I'm his right hand man."

"Who's the boss?"

"Think about it Cat. Who do you think?" _Hm. Who's ass does Hodges kiss the most. Not Grissom. No, now that I think about it that was probably just a ploy to gain his trust. Ha. Hm. Wait a sec. _

"Ecklie?"

"No shit, Sherlock." _I always hated him. Well, I always hated BOTH of them, but this is just beyond anything I've ever seen before. _

"So, basically, you've been leading a double life between crime-fighter and criminal?" _The irony…_

"Well, yeah. Except I've never actually FOUGHT crime, I just made it seem like I did." _Erm, even as a criminal he still states the obvious. Well, some things never change._

"You said I'd probably live through this, so why am I here?" _Just keep him talking._

"You, my friend, are here simply to keep Sara in line. She knows that if she tries anything, you die, so she's being pretty compliant. The boss is a smart man Willows, and he knows just what will make her be good. "

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Well, short again, but if I post every day does it really matter? Please review to tell me what you think of the stalker and his little shadow… :D


	11. Chapter 11

Sara:

My captors and I quickly reached what was apparently an empty warehouse, but I soon found that it was, surprisingly, much nicer inside. I looked around as Ecklie wandered ahead, clearly not meaning for me to keep up with him. There as a nice-looking queen sized bed against one wall, a refrigerator stocked with food in a corner, and even a television on the opposite wall to the bed. I was instantly suspicious of this new development in my abduction, but I had no time to think about it because at that moment Hodges of all people walked in leading Catherine.

"Well," he said, "Isn't this a nice reunion. I'll give you two some time to get reaquainted. Make yourself comfortable, this place will be where you spend most of your time here. If you're lucky.

"Cat!" I said, rushing over to her, examining her for any damages. "Did they hurt you?"

"No," she replied quickly, clearly surveying me as well, "just my pride. I can't believe I didnt see this before. But that's not important now. On the ride they told me I'm just here to keep you in line. What do they want with you?"

"Who knows," I said, attempting to look unconcerned, "We have to get out of here though. I really don't want to find out what they're going to do to you to make sure I stay obedient."

She nodded and I started looking around for an exit, but there was none in sight. I should have known that between the two of them they would know how to stage a proper kidnapping where it would at least be slightly difficult to get away from them.

"No good." I said, "One of them must actually have some brainpower that we never knew about." Cat smirked at this, then said resignedly

"Well, we might as well get comfortable, because it looks like we're gonna be here a while. Gil will find us. Hodges said something about that we'll be spending most of our time here if we're lucky. That must mean that they have something much worse than being held hostage in a random room. Lets get some food then sleep. We don't really know when whatever it is is going to start." That was Cat, always practical in the face of extreme danger. I tried to put on a similar front when I replied

"Good idea." and walked for the fridge. Inside were all of our favorite snack foods, and in the freezer what was probably a months work of frozen breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. On top of the refrigerator was a microwave, most likely for said meals. We each selected something from the freezer, and ate our dinner. The refrigerator was the type with a built in water supply, so we knew we'd be able to survive in that area for a while at least. For the life of me I couldn't think of their motives. Most kidnappers would want to starve us, especially Ecklie and Hodges, who had had no particular liking for us in the first place. That was when we realized the problem of only one bed.

"Well," said Cat, "I guess we can share." I was secretly glad to be able to steal another night in bed

with her.

"Sure, why not?" I said, just glad to have that settled.

Cat:

It was to the point where I could almost see the well-disguised fear in her eyes at the thought of spending a night so close to our attackers. "It's going to be ok" I whispered when we were both in bed, trying to give her some measure of comfort, while also trying to convince myself of the same. "I won't let anything happen to you." Her reply was distant but strong and powerful

"Cat, its me they want. Not you. If there's ever a chance for you to escape, I want you to take it, it doesn't matter what happens to me, you have to get home for Lindsey."

"Sara don't ever talk like that again- we're BOTH getting out of here alive and fine. I'll make sure of that. I'm not leaving without you." She smiled in spite of herself, and we both drifted off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Alright, personally I think taking this long for an update is borderline inexcusable... I'm sorry. I have about sixteen good and longwinded excuses, none of which completely cover the waiting period. Suffice it to say I've had a lot of bad luck recently. Regardless, here's the update now.

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Sara:

I woke up, and for a moment experienced blissful ignorance. My eyes were still shut and I had forgoten for a second what had happened. Then everything came flooding back when I opened my eyes, spotting Cat beside me and seeing my surroundings. Everything looked wrongly nice, and homelike. She was still asleep, so I watched her for a brief moment, finding heaven in the hell that we were trapped in. She stirred and woke up, possibly sensing my glance.

"We're still here aren't we?" She asked, clearly knowing the answer while still coming into reality just as I had moments ago.

"Unfortunately," I said. "Shall we get some breakfast while we're here? I have a feeling whatever dumb and dumber have planned is not going to be pleasent." She nodded, and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was afraid but trying desperately to hide it. I don't know why she didn't want to show fear, it couldn't be for the same reasons as mine, but I let her hide her moment of weakness, figuring if she wanted to talk she would. Thats how I perfer to be treated, I figured I'd give her the same curtosy.

We heated up some frozen breakfast sandwiches, and sat down on the bed, not caring for the small table in the corner. We didn't have time to wait around and wonder what came next, because just as we were finishing breakfast and beginning to discuss it Hodges came in and told be to come with him. I followed silently, trying to protect Catherine with my lack of action. I found Ecklie waiting in the room I was led to. He was holding a knife and looking malicious. I stood there waiting for his sadistic tango to begin.

"So, Sidle, we meet again. You won't be desturbing my plans this time will you? Because here you know your chronic insubordination will lead to you lover's death." He spat the word lover at me from across the room and I found myself paralyzed instantly with fear and questions. I had no time to speak however because he continued. "Yes I know about your sick infatuation. I've been watching the two of you since you came here Sidle. She feels the same way just so you know." I started at the news, but said nothing, still trying to keep up appearances. Hodges threw me roughly in a chair and bound me to it, but not before exposing my arms and legs slightly. I sat, waiting. Ecklie started circling, muttering random words and phrases, nothing worth repeating. Every other phrase or two he would come at me with the knife, cutting me often but never too deep. I would know, having inflicted many such marks on myself. I didn't scream or even jerk, knowing Cat would hear if I shouted, and also that I didn't want to give him any satisfaction. After a while it didn't hurt anyway. Your body numbs away the pain, I guess its some sort of defense mechanism. I waited for it to be over for what could have been minutes, or hours, or days even without thinking about anything except Cat.

Finally Hodges untied me, Ecklie looking at me in disgust. "You really aren't human are you?" he asked. "That should have had you screaming and wiggling like a worm. Either you're tougher than you look or that really doesn't hurt. Doesn't matter, I know how to break you."

"Why do you want to," I asked, without sounding flippant.

"Because without you and Catherine the lab doesn't stand a chance and I'll finally be able to protect my friends...." I almost smirked knowing Ecklie wasn't a real criminal himself, only protecting them. I knew it was complete BS but I managed to hold my toungue, still not understanding Cat's place in this. Probably once I was gone he would merely have her leave. He must have wanted me dead since I had spited him so many times before. Figures.

I was led back to the room Cat and I share and thrown inside. Cat was on top of me immediately, making sure I was alright. I shook her off and got in the shower, somehow managing to hide my bloodstained clothes. I washed them out in the bathtub as I cleaned my cuts, and came out looking unharmed, though I was wearing long sleeves to hide the marks. Wasn't a game I was used to playing recently and I found myself sinking back into my old instincts back when I lived with my birth parents. It's more important to stay strong for her than to take care of myself, at least at that moment.

Cat:

From the moment she was thrown through that door I knew she was hiding something, but in a quick glance she seemed fine and I didn't want to push her. Whatever she had just gone through had probably been hell and there was no point in making something more of it than it needed to be. I wanted to protect her but I couldn't think of any immediate way of doing it, especially since she was so adamant on protecting me. Frankly I would have sacrificed myself in an instant to protect her, but there was no real way to do that, it's her they want for some strange reason. She is ready to kill herself for me, but I couldn't live without her. Its actually amusing- two people each willing to die for the other. I love her so much.

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A/N: Sorry I know it's evil of me to wait this long then give a chapter that short, but I really don't want to write more because then it would be way too long.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Well, here's another chapter. It may not be very long since I'm writing it at a hellish hour... sleep will take over the sugar eventually xD

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Sara:

I knew the torture could never end unless we found a way out. I also knew it may never end for me, but that it could end for Cat. I saw her sitting on the bed staring at me as I walked around, and I realized that if, as it was seeming currently, I was to die here, the best thing I could do would be to at least tell Cat how I felt. I walked over, and sat next to her. She looked at me surprisingly and I began. "Cat," I said, beyond tenatively, "I want to tell you something. I don't really trust my odds in a place like this, and in case something happens and I don't make it out I at least want to settle all my unfinished affairs."

She looked at me, and, without giving me time to finish said "I promise you you're going to make it out of here Sara. No matter what this is not going to be the place you draw your last breaths. I couldn't live with that idea. But say what you were going to say if it'll make you feel better. I don't know what that bastard's putting you through but I have a feeling its not the nothing BS you keep feeding me."

I stared, shocked that she could see through my charade that easily. But I realized our time could be limited. Chances were Ecklie would want another round, and I wanted to finish before then, not knowing specifically when the final blows would be delt. "Cat, first of all I want to apologize for all the things I've said to you over the years. I was out of line, and it was only because I was afraid you would figure out that... I love you. I'm not afraid that you know anymore though, because this place has given me one thing...clarity. I've realized what's important. Even if you don't feel the same way at least now you know and if we ever get out of this place we can go on with our lives, together or apart, whatever you choose."

She looked at me, mouth gaping, and I thought for sure she was going to reject me and run away, but instead she said "Sara, I can't believe this, but its like you took the words out of my mouth. I've wanted to tell you the exact same thing but... I just didn't have the guts. And to answer your unspoken question, when we move on with our lives I'd like to do it together. More than anything."

I nodded and we simply held each other for a moment. "This sucks." I said, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Yeah... this definitely sucks." She said jokingly, despite the truth in her words.

Just when we were about to lie down and try to sleep, Hodges came down and barked "Willows, come with me!" I stood up and slugged him, making him stagger back, but he regained himself and attempted to snatch Cat again. I kicked him in the crotch and he went down, giving me room for a few head shots which together knocked him unconsious. I knew we only had seconds so I shouted at Cat to hide but she stood her ground. Then Ecklie himself came down the stairs and I did something that every member of the LVPD had wanted to do at one point or another. I punched him square in the nose, then as he spun around I kicked the Ass in the ass. Turns out my martial arts training was to some advantage. Cat then sat on him as I stepped on his head, rendering him as unconsious as his partner. We grabbed their guns, which in their stupidity they hadn't thought to use, their cell phones, which would be of the utmost importance, and ran like hell. We were out the door when we realized we were in the middle of the desert. That didn't stop us from running however.

Once we had gained significant advantage, considering we were several miles from any road and they didn't know what direction we had ran we stopped for a break so we could assess the situation. Cat fell over laughing immediately. At first I though she was going into some sort of fit but then I heard the words coming from her mouth. They were, in essence "Ecklie" "Nose" "Spin" and "Ass" in random orders. I began chuckling with her and before I knew it we were both laying in the sand chortling. I realized quickly that we had to keep moving, and that night would fall in a couple of hours. I went to push myself up when a sharp pain went through my arm. I looked at the offending extremity and realized that my wrist was swolen to twice its normal size. Shit. Somewhere in the fist fight it must've gotten bent the wrong way or something. I figured it was just a sprain even though there was glaring evidence saying otherwise, and ignored it. Cat was exhausted and needed me to be strong, though she'd never admit as much, so I'd do my best to live up to my reputation- stubborn as hell- and get us both through this.

A few hours later it was dark, and I was about ready to give up and try to make some sort of shelter when I checked the stolen cell phone. Apparently we were close enough to the city to get service, finally. I was about to call Grissom when I felt a slight tug on my arm and heard a scream. Then Cat collapsed in my arms. I layed her down gently, trying not to hurt her, while still attempting to figure out what was wrong with her. I realized there wasn't much I could do, so I called 911, explained the situation, and did my best to move the two of us closer to the road. We had apparently been migrating towards the road anyway, and so I was able to reach it with Cat at the same time the ambulance did. I explained what had happened to the paramedics, who loaded Cat into the vehicle. I insisted on going with her, and they agreed, mostly because I had no other way out of there.

By the time we reached the hospital Cat was semiconsious, which they took as a good sign. I was told to wait in the waiting room, which I did after calling the guys, who showed up in a heartbeat. They made sure I was okay, (I put on a good show for them, Cat was more important) then asked about Cat. I told them what little I knew and waited. Finally the doctor came out and approached me. "Sara Sidle?" he asked, and I nodded. "Can you come with me please?" I went to get up, wincing for a moment as I unintentionally put weight on my injured wrist, then followed him as quickly as possible. He brought me through a set of double doors and began to explain. "Well," he said "Catherine is consious now, it was simply a bad case of dehydration. You can see her in a moment... after I take care of your hand."

I rolled my eyes "So you noticed that huh?"

He replied "It's my job to notice that sort of thing. It's typical for a loved one to not worry about their injuries when their partner seems to be in danger, but Cat's gonna be fine, so let me take care of you now okay?" I nodded, knowing Cat would have my ass if I didn't take care of myself. The doctor ran me through a series of X-Rays, then said my wrist was broken and he'd have to put me in a cast, unless I agreed to keep a brace on. I agreed. He fitted me quickly then took me to see Cat, who had apparently chosen that moment to take a nap. She looked so at peace, laying there, and I knew beyond anything else that I'd found my partner for life.

----

A/N: Well, here it is, not overly long but definitely juicy. We're sooo close to 100 reviews, pleaase send your feedback I'd love to see this story hit 100!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Yes, a year later, here's the continuation that I hope some of you still had some hope for, although I can't say I blame you if you didn't. Happy Holidays!

I guess I fell asleep in Catherine's hospital room. I'm not sure exactly. It had been a long few days, and between the fight, the shock, and the all too strenuous escape process, I guess I was exhausted. When I woke up, she was awake as well, and smirking at me.

"What could possibly be that amusing Willows?" I grunted jokingly.

She smirked. "Oh nothing, just you, asleep, in a chair… you could've joined me ya know…"

I looked at her "I didn't anticipate my little nap, otherwise I probably would have."

She chortled. Now I was really confused. "Nap? Uhm Sara last time I checked twelve hours isn't a nap, in fact that's several nights sleep for you. The doctors kept coming in and checking on you to make sure you weren't in a coma or something."

Twelve hours? That must've been one hell of a case of shock if it put me out for half a day. I hadn't slept that long possibly in my entire life. "Well then… That's a little strange. When are you getting out of here?"

"Any minute now. Your sleep time was limited, the doctor just went to get the forms. We were going to have to wake you up pretty soon, otherwise you would've woken up to someone else's body in this bed."

"Well, that would've been strange. I might've gotten a little weirded out by that, although I'm sure the poor stranger would've had a bigger problem with it." Cat laughed out loud at that, which made a part of my heart come back to life that I didn't even know had died. I was glad to hear that she was okay, that she hadn't been too traumatized by what had happened to us. That's what mattered.

Just then the doctor came in to discharge Catherine, who climbed out of the bed, clearly happy to be getting released. A minute or so after, Grissom joined us in the room. He apparently came to pick us up, since obviously neither of us had cars. We piled into his Denali almost silently before I asked the question that was taking over my mind. "Did you get them?"

Gil sighed. "We got Hodges, and while it's great to have that kissass out of our lab, Ecklie's still on the loose. He got away before we got to the scene. The good news though is that once we do find him we have plenty of evidence to nail him for the murder of your mountain victim, and attempted murder of two law enforcement officers. Oh and about 100 counts of obstruction of justice. They're both going away for a long, long time."

Catherine exhaled hard, but I held my emotions in check. "You mean that jackass is still out there Grissom?"

"We're going to nail him Catherine, I promise. Until then you both are going to be under twenty four hour surveillance. I won't let him hurt you- either of you- ever again."

She nodded slightly, although I knew she needed better closure than that. We both did, but we had to make do with what we had. We were both armed, both safe, and both under the protection of armed uniforms. It was something. And besides, we knew that the guys were working nonstop on this case, it was clear from the harried look on Grissom's face that he hadn't slept in at least 24 hours, probably more, and Nick, Warrick and Greg were most likely in the same boat. No criminal was smart enough to outsmart our entire grave shift team on a tear, and certainly not Ecklie. He'd be behind bars within a few days unless he'd had the good sense (and the means) to flee the country, which was unlikely.

Grissom began to speak again "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but are you two willing to give your statements now? I realize it's very soon after the fact, but you know as well as I do that it's imperative to get statements as soon as possible so that the details are still fresh in the v-… in your minds." I didn't want to think about the fact that Gil had obviously been about to say victim. Even though I knew it was true, I didn't want to think about myself in terms like that.

Catherine and I exchanged a significant glance. I was ready to give my statement, but if she wasn't I would stand by her in that decision, and I think she gathered that by my look. She nodded slightly, and I said "We're ready."

Grissom looked at Catherine questioningly, but she just gave him a look that reflected my words. "Alright then. I'll take you both to PD first, Brass will take your statements, ask you a few questions, then I'll take you home."

We arrived at the LVPD headquarters within minutes, and when we walked in we were surprised to find ourselves greeted by the entire team. Greg, Nick, Warrick, Sophia, and Brass were all standing in the department lobby, waiting for us. I shot Grissom a questioning look to which he said "We knew you'd both be too stubborn to wait anyway, and they wanted to be here for you guys."

We embraced each of the team members in turn. Greg whispered how glad he was to see us both okay. Nick seconded that and gave us a strong oath that he would catch Ecklie if it was the last thing he did. Sophia seconded that. While I was talking briefly to her, I heard Warrick whisper "Congratulations" to Cat, loud enough only for her and I to hear. Apparently Warrick knew Catherine well enough to know what was going on between her and I. Then Brass took me by the hand and asked me if I would go first. I said yes, and followed him down into the interrogation room that had been so familiar to me in the past, but this time seemed foreign. I was so used to being on the other side of the table, that I almost didn't recognize the room from the angle I was sitting at.

Then Brass turned from my friend and father figure to his homicide detective self…well… almost. His tone wasn't quite what he would normally use in an interview. "State your name for the record please?"

"Sara Katheryn Sidle"

"Place of employment for the record?"

"Las Vegas Police Department, Criminalistics Beaurau."

"Thank you. Now, you were working a crime scene with colleague Catherine Willows when, after an unfortunate fall, you and Miss Willows were driving back to the Crime Lab when your vehicle was hit, correct?"

"That is correct."

"What did you find when you and Miss Willows got yourselves out of the car?"

"A note, saying that if we didn't get off the case we would be killed."

"Did either you or Miss Willows sustain any injuries in the crash?"

"Yes. I received a right wrist sprain and several cuts that required stitches. Miss Willows sustained a concussion."

"Did you and your colleague abandon the case at that point?"

"No. The day after we were discharged from the hospital, Ms. Willows and I returned to the crime lab to work the evidence, in the lab only since we were on Doctor's orders to avoid fieldwork."

"Did you or your colleague receive any contact from "The Ghost" after that point?"

"Yes. There was a bat with bloody fangs tacked to my door, and another note saying that we had one last chance to abandon the case."

"What did you do then?"

"We took the evidence straight to the crime lab"

"Then what?"

"While we were waiting for the results, David Hodges came into the room and stuck a gun to Ms. Willow's head and said that if I didn't do exactly as he said he would kill her. He took her out of the room, and said that I was to pretend I was just leaving normally, and to meet his superior in a car in a parking space outside of the lab. I attempted to alert my supervisor to the situation before I left by saying I was going out to get a book from my car, and that it was titled 'Masked Stalker In a Black Jeep', I knew that would help him find us. Then I got in the car."

"Who did you see in the car?"

"David Hodges. He told me that Conrad Ecklie was in the other car with Catherine. We drove to the location, where they put us into the basement. After a while Ecklie called me to come with him. I went without a struggle so he wouldn't hurt Catherine. He came at me with a knife, tortured me for a long time. Then he threw me back into the basement. I hid the wounds from Catherine so she wouldn't worry. Then they called for her to come out, and we attacked them and ran. The rest you know."

"Thank you Sara. That's all we need."

I walked out of the room and saw Catherine standing in the viewing room, tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong Honey?" I asked her, taking her into my arms.

"Why didn't you tell me what he did to you?"

I looked down at her, rubbing small circles into her back. "I didn't want to scare you. I wasn't hurt badly, so I internalized it. It's what I do."

"I'm so sorry" my girlfriend sobbed into my shoulder.

I looked her in the eye "This is NOT your fault Cat. They're sick bastards who wanted us out of their way so that they could continue their little conspiracy."

Then Brass walked in. "Catherine, are you ready to give your statement?" The blonde nodded, and followed Brass into the interrogation room, looking as uncomfortable there as I felt in there.

While Brass collected Catherine's statement, the other team members kept trying to talk to me, but I softly pushed them away. I wasn't ready to talk yet, and all I could think about was the fact that Ecklie was still on the loose. He was still capable of hurting Catherine, and that made me furious. So furious that I wanted to hunt him down myself and rip his balls off, but I knew that wouldn't help anything in the long run.

A/N: Okay guys, I'm sorry about the yearlong wait for this. Also, sorry this was more of a recap chapter than anything new and interesting. I figured since it had been a long wait, everyone could use the review, me included. The next chapter (and yes there will be one) will get back into the storyline, and I promise I won't make you wait a year for it. Meanwhile I've got a new CSI story out, titled "Justice" It's Sara/Cath but very different than this one but I think you guys will like it, so go check it out. Oh and please review, even if it is just to yell at me for making you wait this long. :)


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Amanda who gave me what is probably the nicest review I've ever gotten. I wasn't going to update till tomorrow, but you gave me the motivation and then some. This one's for you, I hope you like it!

Cat finished her statement, and Brass walked her out. The rest of the team invited us out for coffee, breakfast, anything, but Cath declined, saying she had to be with Lindsay, and I followed suit. I wasn't ready to be away from her yet. Too much had happened recently between the kidnapping, and our discovery of our mutual feelings, that I just couldn't be separated from her. I needed her, and I could tell by the look she was giving me that she needed me too.

So Grissom offered to drive us home, which we again kind of had to accept considering our lack of car. The ride was nearly silent, until we got to Catherine's house. There was a tacit agreement that I would be staying with her for the time being. Grissom broke the silence only when we were both out of the car "If either of you need anything, the team, we're all here for you."

"Thanks Gil," Catherine replied.

"No problem. There's a uniform inside the complex waiting for you guys, and I'll wait until I hear from him that you got there before I leave. He'll stay with you until we nail Ecklie."

We nodded and turned away. "We will get him. I promise." Grissom stated before rolling up his window.

We walked up the stairs into Catherine's apartment complex, and took the elevator up to the fourth floor. When we exited the elevator we saw the officer standing there waiting for us. He nodded to acknowledge our presence, then made a phone call, most likely to Grissom. Meanwhile we went inside. "Shout if you need anything" he said over his call. We gave our agreement and shut the door.

CATHERINE:

Before I fully knew what was happening I was being knocked to the ground by a six year old blonde blur. "MOM I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE OKAY!" Lindsay practically blew my eardrum out, but I couldn't care less. I took her up in my arms and held her tightly, just taking in the feel of my daughter in my arms again.

"Me too sweetie. It's okay now. Everything's going to be okay."

Lindsay took fistfuls of my shirt in her arms, clearly trying to hold back tears. "I was so scared. Grandma said the bad guys had you."

I held back the torrent of anger threatening to overflow at my mother for divulging such information to my young, innocent daughter, only because I didn't want to further scare the now shaking girl in my arms. "Mommy's okay now. I promise."

Then Lindsay looked up and saw Sara, and all bets were off. She launched herself into the brunette's arms as well, although she didn't manage to knock my girlfriend over, as she had seen the blur coming. "Sara did you save mommy?"

Sara started to shake her head, but before she could answer I replied "Yeah baby, she did. Sara's Mommy's hero."

My daughters six year old face lit up at this statement, and I could already see the gears shifting in her young, predictable mind. "It's like a fairy tale! Sara you saved Mommy from the evil witch! That must mean you two are in love!"

Sara's jaw dropped almost as much as mine, but then we started laughing, both at Lindsay's amazing deductive skills, and at the picture of Ecklie as a witch. Pretty soon we were all rolling on the floor in tears, and for a moment all thoughts of the tragedies we had gone through over the past few days were forgotten. For a moment, everything was right.

But all moments like that end, at least for us adults that is. Lindsay's fears seemed completely allayed, and for her it was as if nothing ever happened. She was as happy as ever, and after a few hours of playtime it was clear that she at least hadn't been traumatized by the experience. I decided to forgive my mother. But soon enough it was time to put Lindsay to bed, although not until Sara promised that she'd still be there to play with the girl in the morning. Once the young innocent presence was gone however, all of the memories and all of the fears came back, and we were left alone to deal with the demons that would haunt us for a long time, maybe forever.

For an hour or so we tried to ignore it, pretending to watch a movie. I can't even remember which one, that's how much of an impression it left on me. But after a while it was clear that neither of us was very focused. I sighed unconsciously, and Sara looked over at me. "Do you think we should talk about it?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "What's there to say? This whole experience has been absolutely terrifying, and it's literally shaken my view of humanity, but saying that doesn't really help anything does it? What does work?"

Sara looked at me sympathetically, even though she had been the one who had gone through the real torture. "Time," she said simply. "Things like this never go away, but they fade, eventually. You just have to let them."

I looked her directly in the eyes. "How are you so strong?" I asked, wanting an answer both so I could help her with the pain that she was obviously enduring, and so that maybe I could use her strategy myself.

She shrugged. "I'm not, really. I've just been through a lot, so it takes more to phase me."

SARA:

I was lying, outright, to my girlfriend. Normally that's a bad thing, but I knew she didn't need the burden. I'd been through a lot yes, and that taught me how to cope on my own. Before it had been because I couldn't rely on anyone, but now it was because I didn't want to impose that kind of pressure on someone who seemed to be suffering even more than I was. I had my own coping mechanisms; I could just internalize it for now. That method had worked before, and it could work again.

Meanwhile Cat looked at me incredulously. "That's it? You just get used to it?"

"Pretty much… Catherine I'm not going to pretend that what happened in there didn't bother me. It did. But honestly, when you've had that happen to you a million and one times before, it starts not to hurt as much." That much was true. The torture didn't bother me. The thing that had really messed with my head in there was the idea that something could happen to Cat. I really didn't care what happened to me, in fact I'd stopped caring a long time ago. That's another thing that happens. You really start to just not give a shit anymore.

I wasn't sure if Cat believed me or not, but she seemed to let it go at least. "Well that's… disturbing" she said bluntly. "But regardless, we should probably get to bed. It's late, and we might as well try to sleep. Care to join me in bed?"

I laughed slightly at that and followed the blonde upstairs. We changed quickly and got into the queen sized bed. Pretty soon Catherine was asleep, but I just…wasn't. Insomnia was common enough for me, but I had hoped to evade it around Cat. I climbed softly out of bed so as not to wake her, and went to go downstairs to maybe continue that movie- what was it again? But I decided instead that what I needed was a nice hot shower.

Hoping that it would help me fall asleep faster, I stood under the hot water for maybe a minute or so before I noticed one of Catherine's razors sitting on one of the ledges of the shower. It was like it was staring at me, taunting me, daring me to pick up old habits again. Pretty soon the tears were rolling down my eyes at the memories that I had repressed around Cat, and before I really knew what I was doing I held the razor in my hand. I sat down on the shower floor, and stared at the cold metal blade, contemplating the act that I knew already that I was going to do. It had been months, years even, since I had done this, but somehow I knew that if I was going to be strong for Cat, I would need the release that cutting would give me. I also knew that I would be able to stop as soon as the immediate panic that came with the event left me, so there wasn't much threat of getting caught.

I held the razor in my right hand, and slowly dragged it across my left arm. I saw the first streak of blood appear and felt the adrenaline that accompanied it. The rest is a bit hazy. All I knew was that I didn't feel the pain of the cuts. I just felt release. I left maybe ten marks by the time I was done. None of them were deep enough to put me at any risk of bleeding out, but I felt the beginnings of shock come one. That had always been my cue to stop when I had done it before, so I listened to it now. I waited a while for the bleeding to stop, then I turned off the water and climbed out of the shower. I put pressure on the wounds with a wad of toilet paper, which I flushed as soon as they were done bleeding. The pain was beginning to come at that point, a part that I'd forgotten, but I didn't care anymore. The intense burning sensation meant nothing to me. It was just another escape.

I was suddenly quite tired, as I'd hoped, and I climbed back into bed with Cat, careful to roll down my sleeves and make sure they would stay down. Soon I was fast asleep. It's amazing what can work sometimes, even if some people would probably consider it unhealthy.

The next morning I woke up to… Well… An empty bed. How odd. I got up much faster than I normally would, generally being the type of person who likes to ease out of bed very, VERY slowly, and got hit with a rush of panic. What if Ecklie had gotten her? I grabbed my gun from the nightstand and ran out the bedroom door into the living area and saw… Cat. With Lindsay. Making breakfast. "Oh." I said bluntly.

"Very coherent Sara. Now why don't you put the piece away and sit down and have some pancakes?" Cat stated brightly.

"Uhhhmmm. Yeah." I laughed at my own stupidity and made a rather awkward exit back into the bedroom to put my gun back where it belonged. When I came back out there were huge stacks of pancakes on three plates at the table and what smelled like the best coffee I'd ever tasted.

Catherine smirked at my jaw which was clanking around on the floor somewhere and said "Careful hun, you might catch flies that way. And they don't taste nearly as good as these pancakes, I can assure you."

I needed no further invitation. I sat down and scarfed about six, maybe more, of those amazing, fluffy breakfast items and a huge mug of coffee before I said another word. Lindsay meanwhile was tallying the number of pancakes I could take in, and laughing hysterically. "What?" I asked between mouthfuls, "I'm HUNGRY!"

CATHERINE:

That sent Lindsay over the edge, and my heart almost broke with joy seeing how happy Sara could make my little girl. She had hardly ever smiled since her father died, and now she seemed thrilled. It was almost as if Sara had been the missing piece, and the one who had restored the family that Lindsay had lost at so young an age.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang, it was my sister, who was going to drive Lindsay to school for the next few days until the whole "Ecklie Affair" was settled. Grissom and Brass together decided that we were better off staying inside over the next few days, and Auntie Liz was more than happy to pick up the slack.

Lindsay didn't want to go, obviously, but after a few minutes of coaxing, then forcing, she left with Liz, and Sara and I were left alone. She was finally done eating, probably nine pancakes later, and she helped me put away all the dishes.

"So," I asked lightly, "What was with the whole psycho SWAT thing this morning?"

"Oh, you know… Woke up to an empty bed, figured better safe than sorry." Sara seemed almost ashamed, but I let it go. I didn't want to make her feel bad, so I just chuckled, and so did she, and everything seemed fine until-

CRASH

Sara and I both ran to Lindsay's bedroom where the loud noise had come from. There we discovered a broken window, and a rock that hand clearly just landed inside. I grabbed a pair of gloves from my kitchen and came back, unwrapping the piece of paper that was tied to the rock. On it were just three words, but they were menacing enough to leave me on the verge of tears.

"I'M STILL HERE."

A/N: Cliffie, I know. But it's almost 1AM here, and I really wasn't going to write this until maybe later tonight, but more likely tomorrow. So at least you got an update right? And at least I managed to continue the story here… Next chapter will probably feature Catherine figuring out Sara's dirty little secret, and of course what happens when people throw stones at glass houses…erm…windows. ;)

Until then, PLEASE REVIEW. Who knows, you might get a dedication!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Ah yes, the next chapter. I don't have much to say here, so on with the story!

CATHERINE:

The crash was enough to send the on duty officer scrambling inside, and he reached us just after we had viewed the note. "Everything alright in here?" The man, named Jones, asked us.

I shook my head and showed Jones the note, keeping it within control of my gloved hand so that any evidence on it wouldn't get compromised. He nodded "I'll call Brass. Murphy!" he shouted at his partner who had remained outside. "Secure the scene!"

The next hour or so was a blur. Nick and Greg came by to collect the rock and the note, and to photograph the window for reconstruction purposes, then Brass took our short, most likely unhelpful, statements. It seemed like both seconds and days before the boys left. Brass reassured us that he would keep his guys on a constant vigil and have them walk the perimeter every so often, then he left with them.

It was only then that Sara and I were able to look at each other. I knew that there was fear radiating in my eyes, but in hers there was only cool, calm determination. "Sara, are you okay?" I asked her shakily, trying to figure out what was going through her head.

"I'm fine… you?" I didn't quite believe her. How could she possibly be okay?

"No I'm not okay." I said incredulously "This bastard just threw a rock into my home, and he's taunting us. Taunting us Sara. How are you okay with that?"

She answered with the same eerie calm that was radiating from her facial expression. "Catherine, I'm not okay with the idea that he just invaded your privacy like that, but he's trying to instill fear. If we let him, we're just giving him what he wants. I'm simply staying calm until I see a reason not to."

I half smiled at her, but it came out more like a grimace than anything "I wish I had that kind of control Sara, but I have a daughter coming home from school in less than two hours, and she believes beyond any doubt that her home is safe. It's a give in for her. But now I can't promise her that, and that's terrifying."

My girlfriend grabbed my hand comfortingly. "It's going to be okay Catherine. I'm sure it is. Brass will catch him, and probably rip into him so bad he won't even be capable of standing trial. And as long as I'm here I won't let anything bad happen to you or to Lindsay, you're both safe."

SARA:

Catherine didn't notice the wavering in my voice, or at least I assume she didn't. She was too concerned at the moment for the safety of her daughter. Of course I was worried too, but it was her home, and both her's and Lindsay's safety on the line. I was more worried about her than the situation, and I meant what I said. I would take care of her… no matter what.

She seemed to accept my answer and started cleaning up the glass from inside Lindsay's room so that the girl wouldn't have to come home to more chaos than was already inevitable. Meanwhile I offered to run out to the hardware store to get a new sheet of glass for the window.

When that was done, and I'd installed the window, Cat and I sat down on the couch to wait for Lindsay to get home. "So do we tell her?" I asked Catherine gently.

She shook her head. "I don't lie to my daughter, but I don't see any need to terrify her needlessly either."

I looked at her incredulously. "Needlessly? Catherine, you're the one who said that your home wasn't safe, don't you think your daughter has the right to know that something might or might not happen?"

"That was before you said you'd keep anything from happening. Besides, there's two police officers outside, and a good half of the LVPD is searching for him. Why take away my daughter's innocence?"

"Because," I said, starting to get annoyed, "You can't shelter her forever, and she has the right to know. That way she keeps her eyes open."

I could see Cat's hackles going up as well, and sensed our discussion turning rapidly turning into an argument. "That won't make her keep her eyes open Sara, it'll make her paranoid."

I scoffed "Give your daughter a little credit Catherine."

She sat straight up then and faced me directly. "That's just it Sara. She's my daughter. Not yours. It's my decision, now back off."

I left it alone. "Fine." I said shortly, and walked to the bedroom. I don't know if I did that because I was trying to clear my head, or because I had the honest intention of taking a nap, but I fell asleep pretty soon after.

CATHERINE:

I regretted my words as soon as I'd said them. I knew that my stress was talking rather than my heart, but I also knew that at that point it was better to let Sara cool off then try to pursue it in the moment.

I waited a couple hours, and when Sara didn't emerge from the bedroom I decided to go in after her, despite the potential dangers of that action. An angry Sara was not something you ever wanted to see, but she was worth it. I certainly didn't want to lose her over something stupid.

When I entered the room, I didn't see what I had expected to see, which was a stewing Sara who was reading a forensic textbook or something. Instead I saw my girlfriend sprawled out across our bed, sound asleep. It would have been a beautiful sight but for what I saw next. Her left sleeve had apparently rolled up while she was sleeping, and I saw ten fresh cuts on her arm, clearly self inflicted. I felt the tears on my face before I realized that they had been welling up. _So she really isn't okay._ I thought, _She must've just been pretending to be strong for me. Sara, I wish you didn't feel like you had to do that. This is all my fault. _

I walked out of the room as quietly as I could, not wanting to disturb Sara, but vowing to confront her about the cuts as soon as she woke up. Soon my thoughts were interrupted however by my daughter bounding in the door. "Mommy Mommy guess what?" she nearly screamed.

"Shhh sweetie Sara's asleep. But I don't know…what?"

Lindsay's voice dropped down to a near whisper. "Today, in gym class, we had a hula hooping contest and I WON! I hula'd longer than my entire class!"

My face broke into a massive smile despite everything that had happened that day. "That's FANTASTIC honey! Tell you what, why don't we go out for ice cream to celebrate, then I'll drop you off at your friend Amy's house for a sleepover okay?"

Lindsay barely repressed her rising squeal, but she managed to keep it under control. "Okay!" she whispered.

"Alright," I said, "Why don't you pack your stuff, and I'll call Amy's mom and make sure it's okay with her."

Lindsay ran off to her room to pack, and I quickly called her friends mom and begged her for a favor, silently thanking a deity that I didn't believe in that it wasn't a school night. She was more than happy to oblige, her daughter having shown up on our doorstep a couple times in the past for similar reasons. She was a single mom too, so she and I had a bit of a system going where one of us would take the other's kid if something came up.

As soon as my daughter was ready with her six bags (gee I wonder where she learned to over pack) we were off. I promised myself I would talk to Sara as soon as I got back, but wanted to give her some privacy for a while first. Confronting her when she first rolled out of bed probably wasn't the best idea.

SARA:

I woke up to an empty house and a note from Catherine saying "Took Lindsay for ice cream then to a sleepover. Be back in a couple hours. C" She included the time, 3pm. I looked at a nearby clock and saw that it was now just past 4. So I had about an hour to myself before facing the impending follow-up fight. I was sure Catherine hadn't gotten over my apparent assault on her parenthood yet, and I wasn't looking forward to what she would have to say now that she had time to come up with a really good comeback.

Deciding that I might as well sit back and await the inevitable, I made a cup of coffee, planted myself on the couch, and watched a rerun of "In Plain Sight." I'd always liked that show, Mary's character reminded me a bit of Catherine.

The credits were just starting to roll when Catherine walked in looking…nervous. She didn't seem angry anymore, which was odd, but I didn't even have time to analyze it before Catherine had wrapped her arms tightly around me and said in barely a whisper "I'm so so sorry."

"For what?" I was honestly confused.

Tears threatened to break through the barriers that she had put up, but she looked like she was fighting them as hard as she could. "For making you think that you had to be strong for me."

"I-"

She didn't let me continue. "No Sara let me talk. Maybe if I had been just a little bit stronger, or even more observant, I would've been able to see how much you were suffering. Maybe then I wouldn't have driven you to," she grabbed my left arm hard before I could react and rolled up my sleeves despite my protests, "this."

I winced. _Damn it._ "Now can I talk?" I asked quietly. She nodded. "Catherine, you didn't drive me to that. Ecklie did. And so what if I suppressed my emotion, that's what I do. You weren't supposed to see that anything was wrong, because I didn't want you to."

The tears broke through, but she kept her voice steady. "Why didn't you want to let me help you Sara? I'm your girlfriend… you're supposed to trust me."

"I do trust you Cat, but you were going through a lot. I could handle my pain, it didn't seem like you could." I told her the truth because I had no other choice. I was cornered, and my secret was out.

Catherine knelt down on the floor, tears flowing freely down her face by now, and took both of my hands in hers. "Sara, I want you to promise me that no matter what is going on, no matter what you think I'm going through, that you'll come to me if you're hurting. I don't want to see you suffer, not ever, and especially not at your own hand. Please."

I kissed her forehead. "I promise" I murmured, beginning to cry myself. "You know, no one ever found out before you. How did you find out by the way?"

"I went to check on you in your sleep, and your sleeve had gotten rolled up. Now talk to me Sara. Tell me what did make you want to do this."

I looked her in the eyes, and fulfilled my promise, spilling all of my fear and pain, putting everything that I had kept to myself on the table. Catherine took me into her arms, and just let me let it out. And by the end, I felt better. She was right, talking it out had worked better than bleeding it out.

A/N: Okay, it's short, and its clichéd. Sorta. I'm sorry… I had no inspiration to write today, but I knew I owed you guys an update. The problem is this story is really slipping out of my fingers. I think next chapter will be the last, but I promise you it'll be a good ending. In the meantime, please review!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: This is officially the last chapter to this story. Thank you to all my reviewers, especially those of you who reviewed multiple times. You're the reason I keep writing :)

SARA:

I woke up the next morning feeling better than I had in weeks. I felt…relieved. And for the first time in maybe my entire life, I felt hopeful. But my thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud crash that sent me flying out of bed and towards the source of the sound.

Inside the broken down front door of Catherine's house stood Conrad Ecklie, brandishing a gun. "Sidle, I thought I might find you here. I always knew there was something wrong with you, figures you ended up a queer."

My anger rose and as it did my inhibitions fell. Instead of negotiating with him, or trying to talk him out of shooting at me, or ducking for cover, all of which would have been normal human reactions, I dove into a rollout, standing up just inches away from him and knocking the gun out of his hand. With the immediate threat out of the way I grabbed his wrist, twisting it at an awkward angle and using that leverage to force his arm behind his back. From there I shoved him face first into the ground. That was the moment that Catherine chose to appear, gun in hand.

"Don't shoot him!" I shouted, "Just go get your handcuffs. I've got him subdued."

She ran back to the bedroom and emerged carrying…well, they were handcuffs alright. But they were pink. And fluffy. I raised an eyebrow at her while keeping control over the struggling Ecklie. "Oh keep your mouth shut Sidle, I grabbed the first pair I could find."

I smirked, despite the situation, as Catherine "handcuffed" Ecklie. "Are you seriously using your kinky little sex cuffs on me?" He seemed disgruntled.

"Oh don't worry, pink works on you." Catherine responded, amazingly able to find humor in the situation. "Sara, call Brass, see if he can pick up our…friend…here."

I did, and Brass showed up with five or six squad cars of backup. "Geez Jim he's already in handcuffs" Cat said, surprised at the cavalry.

"Oh I just wanted to be…" We'll never know what he was about to say, because just then Ecklies hands, and the device binding them, came into his view. "Uh…are those… do you use… are you two… Oh never mind I don't want to know." The detective suddenly sounded very tired, as though he had suddenly grown ten years older at the sight of the pink fluffy things around his suspect's wrists.

"Good call Jim," I winked at him, even though Cat and I hadn't even had sex yet, let alone sex with her… uhm… additional…aids…

"Uhm okay, I'm gonna…get him out of here, and…leave you guys to it. Did he uhm…interrupt you two in the middle of something?" Brass, trying to be tactful, was just making the situation more and more hilarious.

Catherine decided to make the poor detective catch a few more flies. "Yeah, we were in bed," she sighed, "Luckily Sara's a regular Houdini when it comes to being cuffed to a bed, she was able to get out really fast, and she can also get dressed a hell of a lot quicker than me after being…occupied."

I scoffed. Brass was turning a beautiful shade of red. "Okay, you two are both like daughters to me, and I've worked with both of you so long that this is really hard for me to hear… How about this, I'll just put it in my report that you two were…sleeping… when the suspect arrived?"

"Jim," I answered, deciding to put him out of his misery, "that's exactly what did happen. Relax. Catherine just grabbed the handcuffs because, amazingly, they were the first ones she could find. NOT because they had been in use at the time."

We both laughed as we watched Brass breathe a sigh of relief "Oh good. Maybe now I won't have to have nightmares for the rest of my life picturing that. Oh wait, the image is already burned into my head." But then he laughed, and we knew we were out of the hole.

Once all the cops were gone and we had cleaned up the things that had gotten knocked over or broken in the struggle, I saw Catherine giving me a funny look. "What?" I asked.

"Well," she said, "Now that this mess is cleared up, and I'm not talking about the house, we don't have anything to worry about here, right?"

"Right…" I said, not quite understanding where she was going.

"Then it wouldn't matter if we let down our guard for a bit?"

"Uhuh…" I still didn't get it.

"You know, I have another pair of those handcuffs," she said suggestively, "and I've just been DYING to try them out on someone…"

"Ah," I said, getting the picture, "You want to see if I really am a regular Houdini after all huh?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh honey, once I've got you, you won't WANT to escape."

And I didn't.

A/N: That's it. I know it's short, but it was supposed to be. This was just supposed to tie up the loose ends. What happens next is up to you. I deliberately didn't include information about where their relationship goes, or Ecklie's trial, because I wanted to leave it to interpretation.

Also, I encourage you all to check out my latest story Justice. I think you'd all like it :)

Please give me one last review, tell me what you think about this chapter, or the story in general… Thank you to those of you who stuck with me through this story, I know it's been a long ride.


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